Tiroler Tageszeitung, editorial, June 3, 2023 edition. By MICHAEL SPRENGER. "Battle vote, a godsend".

2023-06-02 22:00:11

Innsbruck (OTS) – Baber versus Doskozil. Today the red power struggle is decided. The SPÖ has not just been in a crisis since yesterday. In any case, this does not present itself as an opportunity. Unless there is still something like common sense in the party.

In 2017, Sebastian Kurz was celebrated as the new ÖVP chairman at the Design Center in Linz. In 2008 it provided the framework for the enthronement of Werner Faymann as SPÖ chairman. Good ground for future chancellors, if you will. Both Kurz and Faymann were able to be put on the shield because an ongoing internal party intrigue against their respective predecessors Reinhold Mitterlehner (ÖVP) and Alfred Gusenbauer (SPÖ) had been crowned with success.
With that, however, the parallels to today’s party conference of the SPÖ in the Design Center have already been drawn. Kurz and Faymann were set up as logical successors at the time. Neither Andreas Babeler nor Hans Peter Doskozil can say that for themselves. The outgoing party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner did not want to give up the field without a fight. So the power struggle had to be brought to an end. First in a member survey that was more than just screwed up, in which Rendi-Wagner just fell by the wayside. Now the fight vote. This is because the mayor of Traiskirchner did not want to give in due to the close result in the ballot.
With this, Babeler provided a stroke of luck for the party. True, a battle vote is not an expression of harmony. The opposite is the case. But the presidential election procedure chosen by the party and not thought through to the end would only have provided a different solution to the conflict, and this would have been a fiasco for the party. The other solution would have meant that not only Rendi-Wagner but also the runner-up would have thrown in the towel after the member survey. So Doskozil should have stood alone for the delegate election today. No, must! The vote would certainly have led to a prank orgy after the injuries. The governor should have left Linz as a broken party leader. The party would have been badly battered on the ground.
So it doesn’t matter how close or clear the vote is – only Babler has ensured that the SPÖ gets the chance to try a new start. For this, the comrades would have to approach each other despite all the contradictions. The politicization and democratization of the party would have to be continued, and the existing junior staff promoted to important positions.
All not easy. The SPÖ can of course also rely on self-destruction in a different way and continue to do so. Friendship!